Dark Souls - Ashes of Lordran
by Kindred Soul of Flame
Summary: In a crumbling age, the first Flame must be linked once again. A prophecy passed through generations tells of an Undead who is to leave the Undead Asylum. A young Pyromancer will set out on a journey that will take her to the land of Ancient Lords, along her way she meets a man with a shrouded past, and armed with a burnt sword and singed clothes. Only the strong journey here.
1. Forward

**Forward**

**This story is just for me to practice my writing skills and for me to put my interpretation of the Dark Souls lore into a narrative form. As I want to improve my writing, criticize the hell out of this story. Only my writing and not the way I perceive the lore of Dark Souls I ask.**

**As a Disclaimer:**

**I do not own DARK SOULS nor its characters, they are owned by Bandai Namco and FromSoftware, I make no money from this. The only I own are my original characters.**

**As for the rating of this story, on and Archive of Our Own it will be rated M, mostly because I'm sticking to the rating of the game.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Undead Asylum

"How many days have passed…" a female Undead whispered to herself as she sat in the corner of her cold, damp cell, gazing up at the hole in the roof. The cell around her had only one source of light, a sleeping mat, a bucket and a body lying against the wall to her right. "Just how long has it been since I was brought here?" Like many of her kind, she was corralled to an asylum in the North, far away from any civilization, cut off from anyone belonging to the outside world. "Months? Years? Maybe even Decades? I have forgotten so," the Undead lamented to herself, casting her head down. Losing her sense of time after being locked away in a cell for so long. Her once beautiful olive-green garments belonging to her people, the one she was buried in when she died, has all but been torn.

Her head perks up as she hears the shuffling of foot steps on the roof of her cell, she was startled when she sees the body of another Undead drop into her cell. She looked up to the hole in her cell and sees a knight, peering down at her. As quickly as he came, he left her. _"Why did he drop a body in here?"_ she thought to herself, as curiosity got the best of her, she rose up to look at the corpse. She rolled the corpse over and saw why it was dropped by the unknown knight: a key.

"No, this couldn't be it, could it?" she said to herself, hope stirring within her which she had lost so long ago. She looked towards the rusted metal gate to her cell, the one she had struggled for days and nights to unlock and escape. She stood up and slowly walked to the gate, trembling every step. She inserted the key into the lock and turned, the key had rotated, and she heard a click when her hand came to a halt. She inhaled sharply, the hope brewing with excitement in her heart, and pushed the gate.

It opened, but not without resistance as the hinges had been withered away. Once the gate creaked and had reached its limit, she stepped outside her cell, a smile making its way to her face. She was free. Out of her cell, she walked down a long, dim passage, only illuminated by a few torches on the wall and occupied by a few scurrying rats. As she walked, she turned to the first cell on her left. She peered into the dark cell and a pang of sadness overcame her being, seeing the unmoving body of a fellow Undead. The sadness wasn't enough to dampen the girl's spirit and she carried on down the passage. She passed other Undead, who she now saw were the jailers, paid no attention to her as she walked. It was strange to her, as they berated her every time she attempted to escape, even lashed her.

At the end of the corridor, she came into a round room, almost like being in a large well. The base was flooded with water and with a ladder leading up to the surface. She rushed to the ladder through the cold water and climbed up, her undead muscles ached as she climbed up from not using them in ages. She was amazed she was able to accomplish such a feat, thinking that the muscles in her arms and legs had withered away in her time in the Asylum that they would never work again. She reached the top of the ladder and pulled herself up from the metal bars and walked into ans open courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard, she saw a strange sight. A pile of ash, maybe what appeared to be bones to her as well, and a long, coiled sword embedded straight up in the small mound. She walked towards the strange shrine of sorts, feeling herself being drawn to it for reasons she didn't know. Up close to the shrine, she could get a better look. What she thought were bones was confirmed when she saw the remains of a human skull, ribs and other bones that she couldn't recall the names of; the coiled sword standing in the pile of remains had a charred look to it, as if it were fresh from the forge it was made in. At the very base of the sword, she saw small flickers of flame dancing around the sword. After observing the oddity, she looked towards the steps of the courtyard that lead to a pair of giant doors and followed.

Seeing no other way through, she pushed against the doors using all the strength she had. At first, the doors hadn't budged at all, but with enough perseverance the doors slowly creaked their way open. The Undead was greeted with the sight of another courtyard, the floor layered with bricks and pots along the walls, and pillars leading to archways to support the roof of what was once the hall to the Asylum, with yet another another set of giant doors at the end. She opened the doors wide enough for her to slip her small frame through. In the courtyard, she saw a corpse lying face down with an outstretched hand, facing toward her and a strange, glowing message written in the common tongue. The message had a simple inscription: _'Run'_

"_Run? What must I run away from?" _she thought to herself. Soon as her train of thought finished, she felt the ground quake beneath her. She snapped her head up and looked in front of her with fear gripping her body, a great towering demon with a weapon in hand, now stood at the end of the hall in front of the doors. The creature was easily five times her height and was sporting a fat gut. It took a step towards her and she was brought out of her daze. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for any means of a way out. She couldn't find any and the demon was upon her. Raising its great hammer above its head, the Undead ran as fast as she could when the beast brought the hammer down on her.

The hammer narrowly missed her as she continued to run. She stopped at the side of one of the walls looking back at the demon, the creature bringing its hammer up from the blow and walked its way to her. She tried to recall some of the memories that she desperately tried to hold on to from when she was still alive, she ignited a small flame in her hand thrust her hand forward. Alas, nothing happened. She had tried to conjure up a small ball of fire to slow the demon down to give her enough moments to think of something.

A shadow brought her out of her shock as she saw the demon was about to bring its hammer down again to crush her beneath its might. She jumped with all her strength to the demon's left-hand side to get out of the way of the blow, escaping death once more at the hands of the terrible creature. The force of the strike was enough to make her lose her balance and topple over. As luck would have it, the fall had saved her life as the demon swung the hammer in a horizontal sweep to hit her. The Undead quickly rose to her feet, not wanting to take another chance with the demon, and ran to give them some distance.

In doing so, she glanced over to the wall on the other side of the hall. To her joy, she saw two torches lit, shining a way to an open door for her to escape through. With her goal set, she burst forth at her full speed to reach the doorway. She ran through the door and heard a gate shut behind her, she took a few moments recuperate her stamina and turned to look behind her through the iron gate. The Undead was able to take in all the features of the demon who had tried to kill her.

The demon had a grey-blue skin colour and burning red eyes. Bones were sticking out of its head like a pair of antlers and had a large toothy mouth. The demon let out a roar of anger at the fact that his prey had gotten away and turned around. As it did, the Undead caught the site of two small wings on the demon's back and a bone-like tail. She couldn't help but laugh to herself, picturing the creature trying to fly with those tiny wings on its back. She turned around to asses her surroundings. She was in another dark room with water flooding the floor, but much deeper than the one she found the ladder in, and a door to her left.

She walked through the water and the door, only to be greeted by the sight of a passageway with an Undead nocking an arrow to let loose on her. As the Undead fired at her, she quickly hugged the wall to her left to dodge the incoming projectile. She ran forward to find a way to either make it to the Undead and overpower his broken body or escape through another passage. She happened upon an open cell to her left and she took cover in it as the Undead fired another arrow at her. The cell was a dead end, but not completely useless. The female Undead found a corpse clutching a broken, round, wooden shield.

"_I could use this to take some of the blows,"_ she thought to herself as she wrestled the shield free from the grip of the body. She readied herself and peeked around the corner, the Undead hadn't knocked another arrow yet. The female Undead ran as fast as she could down the passageway, managing to catch an arrow that was narrowly blocked by the shield with the tip of the arrow pointing through the wood. As she was nearing the Undead, it turned and fled through a doorway.

"_Damn it,"_ she cursed under her breath as she came to a stop where her attacker last stood. Beside her was another body holding a hand axe, she reached down to grab it. "There must have been some sort of uprising, or these were the guards that perished," she wondered to herself. She pulled the arrow free from her shield and tossed it aside, turning to face the doorway that the Undead archer had fled through. She saw him standing there at the base of a staircase, waiting for her.

The female Undead raised the axe and charged at the archer, before he could even nock an arrow she had brought the axe down upon him, splitting his skull in two. The female Undead pulled the axe out with some resistance as the lifeless body of the archer fell to the ground. After killing the Undead, she had felt a rush of power flow into her through her curse on the back of her lower neck. It was a strange sensation, but it was not unpleasant. She decided to continue up the staircase and saw a sight that she didn't expect to see. Though a hole in the wall in front of her, she saw the unknown knight who had given her the keys to her cell, lying on a pile of rubble with sun beams resting upon him through a hole in the roof.

She wanted to go and speak with him, asking him why he gave her the keys, who he was and what his quest was over here in the Asylum. She turned to her left and saw she was on a balcony above the courtyard where she found the strange shrine, with it still lying in the middle. She turned to her right to see if she can't circle around to the room where the knight lay, but only saw a solid wall blocking her way to him, and staircase leading behind her. She turned around to the stairs, one leading up and the other down.

"Maybe I can try the roof, get to him through that hole I saw," she said to herself. She started up the stairwell. As she climbed the steps, she heard a strange rumbling noise. Out of the darkness, a huge ball of steel was rolling down towards her. Her heart froze as she saw the trap and jumped to the right, throwing all caution away. She fell four meters onto the staircase below her, she grunted in pain as she hit the steps. She held back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes as she writhed around.

Taking a few moments to collect herself, the female Undead decided to walk down the stairwell to come across a gate that lead to the courtyard with the shrine. She looked down and saw the lock was broken, she wanted to test her luck and she pushed the gate. It was unlocked and granted her passage to the courtyard. "Well, at least I can try again now with that demon. I just hope this shield and axe can help," she said to herself. Before she continued into the courtyard, a nagging feeling was at the back of her mind, telling her she should go back up the stair well.

When she reached the top of the stairwell, she was glad she had followed her gut. The boulder that had almost ended her life had knocked the wall down, opening a door to the knight that she wanted to get to. She walked in, now standing closer to him she could see what had happened and grabbed a better view of the knight. The knight wore a blue tunic over the curaise with a sigil she didn't recognise, he wore mail under the pieces of silver full plate armour that covered his entire form. She looked up and saw the hole in the roof providing light wasn't built there, rather that someone had taken a hammer and knocked one in. She looked down at the knight and the rubble that was underneath him, she saw a few rocks lying on top of him. She connected the dots and was horrified.

She quickly made her way towards him. "Oh, you. You're no hollow eh? Thank goodness…" a male voice said in a weak tone, coming from the knight.

"Y-yes, a-are you alright? What happened to you?" the female Undead asked him, worry laced within her voice. She knelt at his side and started to remove the rubble that was on him.

"I'm done for I'm afraid, my insides are damaged. I'll die soon…and lose my sanity, I can feel it coming," the knight said, the Undead's question falling deaf upon his ears somewhat. The Undead stopped removing the rubble from him, having removed all the bigger pieces and leaving pebbles and stones behind. She looked at him, slowly having accepted that without a physician to help him, there was nothing she could do to help him. "I…wish to ask something of you," he wheezed out. She nodded her head, giving him permission to go on.

"You are a god-send to come at this moment. You and I, we're both Undead, regrettably I've failed in my mission… but perhaps you can keep the torch lit. There was a saying in my family… a prophecy passed down through generations. _'Thou who 'art Undead, art chosen…in exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the Ancient Lords…When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know.'_ Well… now you know… and I can die with hope in my heart. One more thing…take this, an estus flask, a favourite of Undead, and this key…"

"What am I supposed to do? An estus flask? I don't even know what it is inside nor what it does or how to fill it?" the female Undead pleaded to the knight.

"Have you… lit the Bonfire… that links all of us Undead on our journey?" the knight asked pained.

"Bonfire? You mean like the one used in a camp? I haven't seen any here nor any wood to burn," the Undead said.

"Heh heh heh, no… not that kind of bonfire of sort. A Bonfire is… a small flame left by the First Flame… that Ancient Lords found powerful Souls in, as the tales go by. It is… where we Undead can find rest… but always at a cost. You will feel it when you… see it," the knight said to her, in a more joyful tone. The Undead smiled hearing the change in his voice. "But I must bid you goodbye, my hour… has finally come… leave this place and leave me here. I don't wish… to harm you when I turn."

"N-no, you can't leave, I still have much to ask you. What do you mean turn?" she asked in panic.

"Hollow…" the knight said and breathed his last before fading to ashes of the soul.

The female Undead stood there, unsure of what to do next. Though she had just been asked to fulfill this knight's task, she couldn't find it in herself to move from her spot. Several moments had passed before she found her strength again to move, she decided to try and listen to the man. She turned around and walked down the stairs to the courtyard, certain that what the man described the strange shrine she had seen earlier to be a Bonfire. She crossed the short distance and stood by right by the flames.

She could feel the draw again, hesitantly she reached out her hand over the pommel of the coiled sword. A moment passed, nothing had happened. She then felt the flames jump up, almost as if to consume the very soul within her. She drew her hand back in a rush out of fear, when she looked down again she saw the Bonfire had come to life and its flames were burning bright like any other fire she had seen when she was still alive. She sat down in front of it and reached down to her hip where she had put the estus flask.

She held it out in front of her to study what exactly the knight had given her. It was a thick, sturdy emerald flask that looked as if it had seen its fair share of battles through time. In a flash, the flames from the Bonfire encircled the flask in her hands and filled it to the brim. The container no longer had its dark, rich green tone, rather a glowing hue given off from the fire inside. The Undead stared in amazement, she had been taught the manipulation of fire through pyromancy and had always held awe for such feats. But for the flames to have a will of their own was something new to her. Then again, she was still a babe in the arts before she passed, this may already be a natural wonder for fire.

She holstered the flask to her hip on her garment and left the fire. When she left, she felt different, as if the flames from the Bonfire had done something to her. She looked down at her hand and saw just what had changed. Her pyromancy flame had returned, it felt alive again, just like a bear coming out from hibernation. A smile was on her face, she thrust out her hand and a ball of fire sped forth. Armed with her flame, axe and shield in hand, the Undead truly felt that causality had shown kindness to her since her imprisonment. She felt that she may truly have the strength necessary to leave the horrid place.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Asylum Demon

The Undead didn't let her hopes rise too high, she knew she had one obstacle in her way: the great demon guarding the doors to her freedom. She walked over to the doors where she had once walked through, to her confusion, they were closed again. _"Had the demon closed them again?"_ she wondered. She gave the doors a push, but this time, they didn't even move. Like someone had locked them from the other side. _"It probably did lock the doors…" _She sighed in defeat, thinking of another possible way to get to him or escape.

"_I wonder if I should try those stairs I leaped off, maybe it will lead somewhere,"_ she thought to herself. The Undead climbed back the way she came and up the stairs where the boulder had almost taken her life. At the top she encountered an Undead standing there abiding his time, and a sealed gate behind him. "So, it was this fool that set the trap,"she said to herself angrily. The hostile Undead raised his broken straight sword to strike her, she readied her shield. The blow was blocked, but her arm took considerable strain against the force. She pushed the Undead's arm away from her and took the opportunity to retaliate.

She struck the Undead on the left side of his ribcage, breaking through his bones. The Undead fell to ground lifeless, she wrenched the axe from her opponent and wiped the blood off her axe on the corpse's rags which passed for clothes. After cleaning her weapon, the female Undead walked to the gate that was behind her deceased enemy. She tried pushing the gate again, seeing if it was unlocked first, but no avail; the gate didn't move. She reached down to her belt where she had kept the key the knight had given her in a pouch, hoping it would work.

She put the key within the lock and it worked, the gate was unlocked. She pushed against the metal bars and had found less resistance from the hinges than from the other gates and doors she had opened in the Asylum. She walked through and came to the balcony of the outer perimeter of the Asylum, the chilled wind blowing against her face and the crisp air of the North was fresh in her lungs, not like the stale air within the Asylum. She wandered further out into the balcony and stopped as she heard groans.

She looked to her left and saw three Undead, she ducked behind the wall before they could notice her. She steadied her breathing and peered around the corner. She saw two of the three holding broken swords and the third with a bow. "Great, I was hoping not to encounter any more of them up here," she whispered to herself. A few moments passed and the female Undead was thinking of a way to deal with each of them, her brain was racking itself for ideas when she looked down to the floor.

She saw some stones on the ground, an idea immediately came to her mind. She picked up one of the stones, aimed, and tossed it to one of the Undead. She missed, this made the Undead more aware of her presence but still didn't move from their spots. The female Undead let out a low growl of annoyance before picking up another piece of rubble, she aimed again and threw. The stone managed to hit one of the Undead with a sword in the head and it started wandering to her, she quickly ducked behind the wall again.

When the Undead rounded the corner, away from the eyes of the others, the female Undead took her chance. She swung her axe at the Undead and it buried itself two thirds of the way into the attacker's neck. She pulled her axe free from the dismembered body and peered around the corner again. The other two hadn't noticed anything. _"I've got the bowman and one with a broken sword left… I need to take out the archer first, but how?"_ the female Undead thought. Several moments had passed and only one feasible plan came forward.

She readied her axe and charged forward, running as fast as she could past the Undead with the sword. It was slow to react, so it didn't stop her nor raise its sword to attack, the bowman was a different case. The archer had already nocked an arrow and was about to draw, when the female Undead swung her axe at its head again, going for a killing blow without hesitation. She succeeded in her goal, but her axe had become lodged deep into the bowman's skull. When she looked behind her, the Undead was already on top of her.

She used her shield to hold off the attacker, but she was fighting a losing battle. Slowly the Undead was gaining the upper hand, she needed to think of something fast, or risk dying here. The Undead had forced her against the wall of the balcony, separating them from a ten-meter drop. She was being leaned over the edge now, she made a desperate shove against the Undead. She heaved with what strength she had from the struggle, it wasn't enough to send the Undead flying over the ledge, but it was enough to throw his balance off.

She escaped from underneath the Undead and he fell on to the ledge. He was about to pick himself up but the female Undead grabbed him by his feet and lifted him. It was no easy task as she barely managed to raise him up, with arms flailing around and legs trying to wrestle their way out of her grip. She lost her grip on one of the feet, but she fought and managed to finally make the Undead lose his point of balance.

The Undead was sent toppling to the floor below, the female Undead used this time to catch her breath again, having fought three Undead in her state. Once she caught her stamina again, she looked over the ledge to see the fate of the Undead she sent over the edge. The corpse was lying on the ground, unmoving; to her this was a good sign, as she wouldn't have to deal with him for second time. Again, with all the Undead she had killed, felt that same rush of power, she didn't know why but she started to enjoy the feeling. She moved to the corpse of the Undead clutching his sword where her axe was buried in his head. She eventually got her weapon free and cleaned it.

The female Undead looked around and saw two doorways before her, one in front of her leading to a balcony leading back into the Asylum, from looking more closely she assumed the hall, and one to her right which had a flickering light, presumably from torches. She decided to explore the darkened doorway. Before she entered, she decided to peer around the corner, not wanting to be surprised by more Undead. What caught her eye made her happy she didn't just go lofting in, what she found was an armoured Undead wielding a metal kite shield and a longsword.

She went to the balcony that she had seen earlier and peered over, she pulled away just as quickly as she looked over, what she had seen confirmed the place to be the hall of the Asylum: the demon. She stood back and weighed her options, she could either attack the Undead with the longsword, kill him and hopefully take his shield and sword to replace what she had on her. Or she could ignore the Undead and try and attack the demon with her axe and her pyromancy flame she had been saving until now.

She had given it thought and had made her decision, she readied her axe and her pyromancy flame. She placed her shield on her back as she thought it wouldn't be of much use to her in the upcoming fight before her. She walked to the balcony again and looked down. The Asylum demon had been wandering around the room and when he saw her on the balcony, it stopped and stared at her. The Undead took this chance to ready a small ball of fire in her hand and hurled it towards the demon's face.

The demon let out an agonizing cry of pain as the flesh of its face was charred and melted. The Undead took a leap of faith from the ledge and brought her axe down upon it. The blade of her weapon managed to cut the face of the demon and managed to lodge itself in the chest of the demon, breaking her fall and cutting the enemy down its fat chest along with it. Soon as her feet touched the ground, she ran as far away as she could to avoid the wrath of the demon through the erratic swings of his great hammer.

The Undead readied another ball of fire in her hand and took a fighting stance with her axe. The demon recovered from the devastating blow she had dealt to it, blinding him in one of his eyes. The demon charged at her and raised its hammer for another swing. She took cover behind one of the pillars of the room, it had done its duty of protecting her from the blow but the pillar itself was destroyed by the attack. She used this window to run towards the demon and attack its feet and ankles, thinking that if she could cut the tendons to its legs it would topple over. She swung her axe at one of the legs of the beast, and she had accomplished what she had set out to do.

A small smile etched its way to her face in her accomplishment of staggering the demon, the smile quickly faded as she heard the flapping of wings. She looked up to see the demon rising higher and higher into the air with the two wings on its back. _"Oh, that's what they're for,"_ the Undead realized and quickly leaped out of the way as the demon's massive body came crashing down again in attempt to crush her underneath its weight. She landed on her stomach and had the air knocked out of her lungs.

She quickly crawled to another pillar to take refuge, she caught her breath and prepared to hurl another fire ball at the demon. She came out from the safety of her pillar and threw the fire ball at the demon. To her horror it was already in mid swing of a horizontal attack, the fire ball connected as the great hammer knocked her to the side after crashing through the pillar. The Undead was knocked onto her side where she kept her estus flask on her person, if it weren't for the pillar lessoning the blow she would have been killed.

She didn't escape unscathed however, her left arm, her pyromancy hand, was broken from the hand up to her shoulder, cuts on her face and right hand formed from flying debris and landing harshly on the ground. She got up and walked to the furthest side of the hall away from the demon. She noticed how the fire was badly hurting the demon, more so than what her axe could do. The gnawing pain from where she had fallen on her estus flask on her hip was hurting badly. She looked down at the emerald bottle hanging on her robe, how it didn't break was a miracle to her; what else intrigued her was that there wasn't a lid for it to hold the flames. After all the acrobatics she has done since leaving the fire, it never spilled.

With her pyromancy arm broken, which was probably the only weapon she had on her which could give her a fighting chance against the demon, she had run out of options. She decided to hold the flask to her lips, why else would the knight giver her something like a vessel to drink out of? As the flask touched her mouth, she took a gulp and drank the fire inside. The fire was warm to her tongue, but it felt weak. She paid no attention to the fire she drank but focused on the burning sensation in her left arm and body.

Her broken arm had been healed and the cuts sealed entirely. The sharp pain was numbed somewhat, and the important parts of her arm required to work properly had been restored, it never completely healed her arm but made her pyromancy functional again. In her stupor, she knew the demon must had closed some of the distance she made between them. She called forth her flame and saw the demon was twelve meters away from her, she threw the ball of fire towards it.

The ball of flame struck the beast's already burnt gut and let out another howl of pain, it occurred to her that the Asylum Demon was probably very vulnerable to fire-based attacks. When the flames subsided on the demon, it looked at her with all its wrath, and moved towards her to finish the fight. The look in its eyes alone gave her a chill up her spine, but that feeling fell short on her as she noticed the massive creature was slow in his steps and staggered his way to her. There was something else she saw on the demon's face, underneath the grotesque natures of its kind and burnt flesh: pain.

Drinking in the sight of the beast, despite it wanting to kill her relentlessly, she pitied it. She ignited one more ball of her pyromancy flame, the last one she could muster, gave one more glance to the beast and threw it. The attack landed directly on the demon's face. It let out one last cry of agony and fell over, dead and defeated at the hands of the female Undead. The body nor the great hammer of the beast didn't remain like the corpses of Undead in the Asylum, but rather disintegrated into soul ash just as the unnamed knight had done in his passing.

When the Asylum Demon had completely vanished, something caught her eye. A key was left behind where the demon's weapon had lain moments ago. Before she could go and investigate the strange item, she felt that same rush of power when she killed the Undead. This time it was stronger than all the Undead she had slain two hundred-fold, and she relished in the feeling of power, she almost began to crave such a feeling. When the burst of ecstasy was gone, she went to have a closer look at the key that was lying on the floor of the hall.

It was big, easily spanning a meter and half in size, orange and red rust coated it from time and a big round handle for anyone to grip the massive key. She grabbed the key but struggled to lift it under its weight. She couldn't keep it up for long before she let it fall with a loud thud, she decided to look at the big doors that the demon was in front of when she first encountered the beast, it was most likely wanting to guard it from those seeking to leave the Asylum. She examined the doors more closely, they were iron, each door seemingly cast from a single slab of metal of their own. Iron plates with thick studs were placed along the perimeter of each door, most likely for decorative reasons.

What caught her eye on the metal plating was a giant key hole. It was one head above her in height, she went back to fetch the key to unlock it. With its weight and the Undead wanting to conserve her strength for the lifting of the key, she dragged the key back as carefully as she could, not risking the breaking of it. When she reached the door, she summoned all her strength she had to raise the key, she heaved and struggled when she got it near chest height. The challenge was lifting it over her head to insert it into the lock.

She managed to fit the key into the lock. When it fit snuggly inside it, unmoving, she let her arms rest and catch her breathe from the taxing exercise she accomplished. Once she recuperated, she twisted the key inside the lock. The Undead heard a series of noises coming from within the door, gears and mechanisms rotating to unlock the massive door. The sounds stopped, but nothing more happened, she was confused. She was expecting the door to swing open by itself judging from the mechanisms she heard turning within.

This apparently wasn't the case and looked as she needed to do this the old-fashioned way. She braced her arms against the door and pushed against it, they didn't move. She wasn't going to give up now, not when her freedom was so close and having come so far in this wretched place. With patience and perseverance, the doors started to move. She couldn't help but start to smile again, with that hope that had driven her all the way up to this point burning brightly within her heart. The momentum she had made for the doors managed to carry themselves the rest of the way, making a space big enough for her to walk through.

She could feel the air of the North again blow against her, she took a step outside and saw the Undead she had knocked off the edge from earlier, she walked up to it and saw the fall it took broke its back, killing it instantly. She decided press on, not wanting to be reminded of the place she had spent so many cold nights in. She drank in the scenery around her. A cobble stone path, beaten away by the weather, laid in front of her. Green grass filled the gaps in the path and around her, with snow covering patches here and there, and white flowers blooming in the cold. The Northern flowers always bloomed when coldest and only grew this far up north. As she followed the path further along, she was greeted the sight of vast, powerful mountain ranges spanning across her vision. It was an awe sight.

A feeling started to overcome her, not a feeling of joy but one of despair. Her breathing became erratic as she started running down the path, hoping that her eyes were deceiving her. She reached the end of the path and her worst fear had come true. How she didn't notice this when she was on the balcony fighting the three Undead escaped her, but that didn't matter now, she wanted to collapse in defeat, she had let out a loud cry of anguish. All around the Asylum was a sheer drop to the ground, spanning thousands of meters, the Undead Asylum to the North had been built on top of a mountain. There was no way for her to get to the bottom without falling to her death, and the cobble stone path she had been following she hoped would be the top of a hill where she could descend to safety.

She was wrong, so very wrong. The path ended with a sheer drop to the bottom just like all the ground around her lead to. She felt like crying, all her efforts gone to waste. Just as she was about to, she heard the beating of wings. She looked up and before she could do anything, the sight of a huge crow had come, feet outstretched to snatch her. At this point she had lost her hope, and didn't even fight back, she let the crow snatch her away. Carrying her off to a far, ancient land.


	4. Chapter 3

The Female Undead was roused from her slumber in the crow's great talons as she approached a castle surrounded by high walls, towering above the vast lands below it. Before the crow started its decent, she could quickly catch a glimpse that the castle was cast in the shadow of an even greater wall, completely blocking out the warm rays of the mid-afternoon sun. The lower the bird flew, she could see where it was taking her. Before she could take in her destination, the crow dropped her to the ground. The Undead landed with a loud thud, falling to her knees to lessen the impact of her fall.

She recovered from the action and stood up to take in her new surroundings. Right in front of her was a Bonfire, with its flames burning higher and ever more brightly than the one that had been at the Undead Asylum, she could feel the draw to the flames more strongly now too. The Bonfire was in the middle of what appeared to be an old shrine of sorts, belonging to a faith of people in the land, with circular stone bench surrounding the flame and in the courtyard of the place. But it must have been an old faith as the stone was crumbling and weathered away through the ages.

She observed the courtyard more closely and saw what were once probably walls to the courtyard were now nothing more than broken archways with glassless windows, not even the roof of the place had survived time as it was gone, exposing the place to the elements. Maybe what she was standing in wasn't a courtyard, but rather what was once a room where people had gathered after a ceremony to commune with each other. What was once beautiful stone tiled floors have been replaced with grass and small bushes sprouting here and there. There were even a few trees growing around her.

Something caught her eye, bringing her out of her daze, or rather two peculiar sights: two men were in the shrine with her. To her right, sitting upon the rubble of what was apart of the wall, was a main dressed in mail armour. Right in front of her was the other man, dressed in burnt up rags, sitting right under the tree growing in the courtyard. Lost to where she was, she decided to walk to the man in mail sitting in his seat, hoping that he would be able to answer her questions.

"H-hello?" she asked as she approached the man, silently frustrated with herself for stuttering.

"Well, what do we have here? A new arrival I see," the man responded, with hints of a bleak tone in his voice. The Undead took in his appearance and saw he had short black hair, with signs of stubble emerging on his face. His eyes had dark rings under them, as if he were forcing himself to stay awake through the nights.

"Yes, I am. I was hoping if you could help me? I'm somewhat lost," she asked him.

"Let me guess… 'Fate of the Undead' I presume?" he asked back, she nodded her head in agreement. "Well, you're not the first. There's no salvation here, you'd have been better to rot in the cell you came from at that Asylum… but too late I'm afraid." She was taken aback from his response, not the one she was hoping to hear. "But since you're here, I might as well help you," the man quickly added. She raised her head to him, wanting to hear what he had to say after his last answer.

"There are actually _two_ Bells of Awakening, a detail the prophecy tends to forget," he said to her, her interest in what he said started to peak. "One is up above, found in the Undead Church," he told, this had confirmed her thoughts that maybe this place she was in was apart of a church of sorts, "the other is found far, far below, in the ruins of Blighttown." When he mentioned the second Bell, she wasn't too keen on traveling to a place with a name such as that he had told her. "It's not much to go on, but I feel it won't stop you. After all, it is why you came here, to the Land of the Undead? Hah hah hah…" he ended with a laugh of amusement.

She walked away from him, somewhat satisfied by his answers, but one thing he had said to her never left her mind. What was her purpose here? Just a short while ago her only goal was to escape the Undead Asylum, but after meeting that knight who had saved her he told her of a prophecy, passed down through generations. Before she could really process what had happened at that godsforsaken place, she was snatched away by the crow. She walked over to the bonfire and settled down next to the flames, basking in its warm glow, collecting her thoughts.

She weighed up her options, from looking around her she could see no landmarks or surrounding kingdoms in the distance from how high up she was, not even tales from when she was a young girl described where she was. She was very, very far away from home. This dampened her spirits, she was left with two choices. She could either stay here, like the crestfallen warrior and wait for time to end, or she could journey and fulfill that knight's hope he had trusted her with in the last waning moments of his life. After some time of thought, she had made up her mind. She would go and ring the Bells of Awakening, she'd spent too much of her time sitting and waiting for the end in her cell, now that she was free she wouldn't waste it.

She looked up from the Bonfire, seeing the man under the tree to her right. She paused for a few moments, wandering if she should ask him where exactly she was. She didn't want another bleak answer to her questions, it would be better going without closure to her questions then. She rose from her place at the Bonfire and walked over to him.

"Hello?" she asked him, but he remained unmoving, gazing into the flames as if she never said anything at all. _"Is everyone in this land rude?" _she thought to herself, annoyance spreading its way across her face. She took this time to observe the man in front of her. He wore clothes that had been in some sort of fire, with a burn scar running long his left arm. He had ash and grime clinging to certain parts of his skin and his hair was long and dark, down to his shoulders; it wasn't a pleasing sight to her. Of all the oddities that surrounded the man, one thing stood out to her: he had a long, horrible scar running down from his upper right temple down to the corner of his mouth "Hello?" she repeated herself, with more tone in her voice. This managed to catch the man's attention as he was brought out of his daze and his head jerked up towards her.

"Oh, my mistake, I wasn't paying attention," the man quickly responded to her, with gruff in his voice, he was definitely older than what he looked to be. The Undead was a bit more satisfied now, having caught the man's awareness.

"I was wondering if you could help me?" she asked, the man eyed her clothes with a look of interest in his eyes before they settled on the beaded necklace around her neck.

"Looking at your dress, you seem to be a great deal away from your home near the Great Swamp, from where did you come from before arriving here?" he asked her.

"I came from an Asylum surrounded by snow and mountains, and yes, I am a great distance from my home. I was hoping you could tell me where I am?" she asked him, glad that this encounter was going a bit better than her last one.

"The Northern Undead Asylum, that's quite a journey you've made here with that Crow. From the… tales I've heard by those that pass by, you are in the land of Lordran," he replied, with a paused moment in his sentence. When the Undead heard those words, she couldn't believe it.

"Lordran? The home of the gods, how can this be? I heard it was only but a legend," she said, surprise evident in her voice. The tales she was told when she was younger were done so by traveling journeymen or sellswords, she had heard of Lordran, but only has a fairy tale story she was told before going to bed at night by her mother.

"It seems to be so, many odd characters have passed by here, all asking if this is the place of legend. Aye, where is my head today? I haven't even asked you for your name yet. I'm Alred," the man said to her. The Undead was happy to hear his question. Since she was dragged off to that wretched place in the north, only one other fellow Undead had asked for her name. To hear another person ask her brought joy to her heart.

"My name is Ailean," she said with happiness in her voice and a small smile on her face.

"Ailean? A name given to a Summer's child," he said, probably voicing his thoughts out loud.

"Yes, it is," she said, the man looked up to her and studied her face for a moment.

"You've got something on your mind, haven't you?" he asked her. She pondered in telling him, not wanting to be made for a fool again wishing to fulfill a wish of a dead man.

"You're right, I do. I was told of a prophecy that one day an Undead will leave an Asylum to ring the Bells of Awakening. I wish to uphold a promise to the one who rescued me from my cell, but I haven't a clue of where to go," she told him, a look of thought made its way to his face. A few moments passed, and she became worried she was being taken as a misguided fool again.

"Mmm, should you choose this journey, carry on the path behind you, it will lead to a water way. From what I've overheard from that warrior over there tell others, it will lead you to the castle where the first Bell is," he said. Relief spread across her face when she saw he had taken her at least somewhat seriously in her goals.

She looked behind her and saw a winding path and worn out stone stairs along side the cliff face beyond an open yard with a tree growing near the edge of the piece of land this shrine stood on and an old well with a soulless body hanging over its ledge. What Ailean could make out to be a structure of sorts, most likely the aqueduct the man had told her about, connecting the wall of the castle to the cliff face supported by massive pillars that lead to the very bottom of the land this rock and cliff face the shrine was built on. "Thank you," she said to Alred. She turned around and started making her way to the old steps alongside the rock.

After following the stone path, she came to the stone stairway that lead into the aqueduct and stepped upwards. She peered down over the edge of the steps and felt a sudden wave of fear as she peered down into the chasm below. She quickly took a step back, clinging to the lush vines that grew on the wall of the structure. Her breathing steadied and she continued, hearing running water close by. At the top of the stairway and a few meters onwards, she came to an opening in the wall of the structure and looked inside. It was pitch dark in the tunnel, to her left and right she couldn't see anything and felt a worry build up that she wouldn't be able to make it to the castle. She shook her head, clearing it of those thoughts.

Ailean took a step into the water and felt a chill go up her leg from the water, fresh from the rains of the land, and clung to the damp inner walls of the aqueduct with moss of various colours growing on it. She decided to go against the flow of the water and head upwards, hoping that she would come to an opening of sorts. She looked behind her as she heard hisses come from the dark in the tunnel, not wanting to linger around long enough for whatever caused the noises, she carefully made her way through the tunnel. Her hands were pressed tightly against the walls to help her keep balance on the slippery stone floor of the structure, a risky decision as the walls themselves were just as slippery.

She walked further upstream for about twenty meters before she almost lost her footing, her hand slipped against the stone wall from her pressing against it as the wall gave way to open an empty space. She caught herself before she could fall into the water and looked to her left where she lost her grip, she could faintly make out a wall in front of her with smooth stoned floor illuminated by light. She smiled at seeing the light and stepped out of the water, the smile left just as quickly as it came because she felt the sloshing of water in her brown leather boots. She leaned against the wall and took off her boots to drain them of their contents, happy with the water gone, she replaced her boots and walked up the path where the light was coming from.

When Ailean made it to the top of the path, her breath was taken away from her. The sight that had lain before her was something she had never seen before, the architecture of the homes belonging to the outer castle's upper residence was beautiful. She had seen the homes that were built in the keeps that she had visited in her travels to the market when she was still alive and were amazed at their building, especially the lord's home as it was the only one to be two storeys high. She went to the stone railing and peered down, each of the homes here must have been three storeys high each. As old as the castle is, even the foliage growing on and from each part of the house and castle added to the atmosphere the place brought her.

"_Those who must have lived here must have been the wealthiest in the land, almost wish I knew what it was like to live in such a place of wonder,"_ she thought to herself, stepping away from the ledge. She observed the top of the residence's layout and followed where the stone road would take her. Traversing through two abandoned buildings of the settlement and climbing a rusted ladder, Ailean hadn't encountered a single soul of any kind, only empty bodies lying here and there on her journey through the burg. With time she came to a stone house connected by a wooden bride with its planks and railings rotted away with moss growing on it after being exposed to the rains and with no maintenance. She put her foot on a plank and carefully put her weight on it, testing whether she could cross the bridge or find another way around.

The wood creaked under the pressure but showed no sign of breaking yet. She extended her foot further out onto the bridge to test the next set of planks as well, nothing happened but the sound of more groans coming from the wood. She held onto the rails of the small bridge, and walked across it, still cautious of it. She made it across, the Undead looked around her and saw two choices of exploration before her, a house to her right and one to her left. She pondered what she wanted to do and turned to her left, choosing to first see what the building had to offer her. She peered inside it and let out a tired sigh under her breath, the house had only one way up with its staircase, but it was all broken. There was no way possible for her to climb it.

Ailean turned away in disappointment, she walked straight to the other house, her only option of making it to the Bell of Awakening that she could see for now, without having to trek through the residence again. She walked inside and to her delight she found its path unhindered by age or sabotage, after climbing the staircase she came to a narrow bridge which lead to an open courtyard with tall wooden barricades in the far left-corner. The smile that formed on her face disappeared as she noticed Undead soldiers scattered around the open space. From where she was, she counted three of them, and all were well equipped just like the one she found in the Undead Asylum; all having armour and armed with a sword save for one which was up on a tower holding something in its hands.

She hesitated for several moments, wondering if she should face the enemies before her, or find another way around them. She looked at all of them again, studying the grounds they all stood on. _"If I'm quick enough, maybe I can best one of them before the other two notice me," _she thought to herself, still weighing up her options. "I faced a great demon and won, I shouldn't have trouble facing them," she said to herself, resolving her fighting spirit. She walked about halfway across the bridge and stopped as she heard the beating of wings. "W-what's that?" she said aloud, nervousness making its way into her will.

That was all she could say before her vision was scoured by red, the bridge shook like a massive weight rested upon it, making her lose her balance and fall to her bottom on the cold stones. A loud roar rang across the residence of the castle, this gave Ailean an opportunity to take in the sight that was in front of her, her skin paled and her eyes grew wide with panic. A massive wyvern with wings that could block the sun stood before her. It had a body filled with spikes and a tail littered with prominent ones from the bottom of its tail going up to its neck that could impale any foe that threatened the great creature, two legs powerful enough to tear apart any defence any man set up, and its head adorned with a mouth full teeth like razors that could shred anything that the beast sank its teeth into.

Ailean sat frozen with fear, her body refusing to move and her muscles disobeyed any command she gave them. Just before all her hope had seeped out from her body, the wyvern took off, flying away as quickly as it came. She tried to steady her breathing as much as she could, standing herself up with the help of the bridge's railing next to her. She looked up and saw the beast disappear behind the tall outer wall of the castle with the setting sun behind it, basking the castle and land in its deep orange rays. She really questioned now whether she should press onward to the inner castle or not, she shook her head from doubts. _"I can't let something like this stop me. I've come so far, I cannot give up now," _she thought to herself, finding her legs again after being paralyzed with fear.

The Undead readied her pyromancy in her left hand and her axe in the other and dashed forward to the closest enemy to her. The Undead upon the tower readied whatever was in its hands and aimed at her, it was this moment that Ailean realised it was a crossbow he was holding. The arrow was loosed, and she quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the projectile. This ate away at her precious time as the Undead she targeted hobbled towards her. She recovered from her roll and was forced to bring her axe up and swipe away at the Undead's sword, parrying it away from her body. The Undead was slow to recover and Ailean quickly dealt a blow to the Undead's armed hand, lacerating it from its body.

She raised her axe again and brought it against the Undead's neck, delivering a lethal blow to it, the second Undead was raising his sword as he approached her rapidly. Ailean brought her axe up, catching the blade in between the head and the wooden shaft of the handle, a risky move as the blade could easily cut through and render her bladed weapon useless, but it had paid off. The blade was caught and the two were in a power struggle for the upper hand, when a loud crashing noise was heard from behind. She started to panic, things were turning for the worst for her, she needed to do something and fast if she was going to make it out of this ordeal. This momentary lapse gave the attacking Undead the opportunity needed and was gaining traction in the fight.

A sudden, agonising pain shot through her core, taking away all her strength in the struggle. She looked down to see a longsword piercing her belly from behind with her blood soaking the upper half, she looked behind her to see an Undead she had never seen before. She barely looked past him to see the barricade she had seen earlier lying in pieces. "He…was hiding?" she barely said above a whisper. She was dragged away from her thoughts when she heard the tightening of rope and looked up to see Undead perched on the tower ready his crossbow for another shot. _"At least… it will be over soon,"_ her thoughts drifted, the Undead shot his crossbow and the bolt struck her.

A sharp pain shot through her chest as she felt the bolt pierce her left breast and embedding itself in her heart, the Undead withdrew his sword from her body and she collapsed to her knees, blood slowly dripping out of her. Her thoughts wandered to the memories she held onto of her life when she was alive when she was found in a graveyard and dragged away to the Asylum, her companion who kept her company in the opposite to hers for all those nights where they would both lose their spirits had it not been for each other. These were her last thoughts as Ailean's world turned to black.

She had embraced the coming emptiness but felt a burning sensation course through her body. She had lost loved ones and acquaintances to death when she was alive before and everyone had a story of what one would go through when facing death. Moments passed, and the fiery feeling had subsided. What she didn't expect was to still be conscious after death. She was confused. The Undead hesitantly opened her eyes and found herself sitting in front of the Bonfire in the shrine. _"What is going on?"_


End file.
